World

Lava flows from the eruption of the Cumbre Viejo volcano on the Island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa, continue to crawl relentlessly towards the sea, destroying everything in their path. Another new ‘mouth’ of the volcano has opened spilling lava, an earthquake measuring above 4 on the Richter Scale hit this morning and now, a tear is forming on the east side of the island in Santa Cruz.

The EU Sentinel 1 satellite has sent images back from space that shows the lava from the Cumbre Vieja volcano now covers an area of 106 hectares and is now just a few kilometers from reaching the sea, a moment that will be crucial in the evolution of the eruption because toxic gases will be released.

THE HYPER-ACCURATE MAP IMAGERY BELOW CAN BE ENLARGED.  CLICK IMAGE (TWICE) TO MAXIMIZE:

At around 4AM this morning (Tuesday), satellite images have shown that the main tongue of the lava has destroyed a total of 166 homes and over 300 pieces of agricultural land, but officials fear that up to 1,000 homes will be lost by the time this is over. In total there are now 6,000 evacuees due to the eruption, and in many cases, they have lost their homes and only have a single bag of belongings with them.  

Those affected who have not been able to stay with family and friends have had to travel to the evacuation centers, which were activated on the island after the eruption, and hotels and members of the public have also offered to accommodate them.

Seismograph readings still show very forceful flow of magma from deep inside the earth, with no sign at all of any slowing:

The good news from yesterday was that the speed of the descent of the lava flows dropped to 300 meters per hour, less than half of what it was, but that is because the lava is incredibly THICK, not at all like the images seen from other eruptions in places like Hawaii, where the lava was thin and easily in the next few hours, it will finally reach the coast.

According to data, the temperature of the lava has risen to 1,100 ºC and experts fear that when it comes into contact with the water, it will release a large amount of toxic gases (known as LAZE) that will flood the island of La Palma, killing everything that breathes it in. The fact it is moving more slowly will be a benefit for the rate they are produced.

Days after the eruption of the volcano, the earth continues to shake and last night a quake of 3.8 Magnitude shook the ground and opened the 9th ‘mouth’ of the volcano for lava to spill from. This was followed by another earthquake of 4.1 Magnitude early this morning in the area of El Paso, and another of 3.2 Magnitude just after 6am. It has also been announced that the maritime exclusion zone is being expanded from two to three kilometers around La Palma due to the danger of the volcanic eruption.

The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, is still on the island and visited families affected by the eruption who have lost the homes they have lived in their entire lives. In a press conference, he said: "The volcano continues to be active and we have to take extreme precautions. All of Spain is with La Palma and you will receive all the resources of the state to alleviate the harsh situation that looms over the island.”

TEAR FORMING IN SANTA CRUZ

Extremely worrying is that the island is beginning to show a TEAR forming far away from the eruption.  The eastern city of Santa Cruz has now begun seeing the ground tearing open beneath parked cars as seen in the video below:

Santa Cruz is nowhere NEAR where the eruptions are happening.  Here is a scalable map from Google showing the location of the city:

It is all the way on the far EASTERN side of the island.   The fact that the ground is now sinking along the eastern coastline is indicative that a tear is forming at that part of the island.   If the island tears apart, the ramifications for an Atlantic Tsunami grow exponentially.

TSUNAMI MODEL

The University of Southern California did a study showing that a new eruption of the Cumbre Viejo volcano on LaPalma __could__ cause a massive landslide, with a section of the island the size of Manhattan, New York City, literally sliding-off into the Atlantic ocean.    Here is the peer-reviewed report about such a possibility:

The history Channel did a piece on this possibility with one of the study's authors, Simon Day:

If that were to take place, the east coast of the United States (and Canada) would see major cities utterly inundated, with unimaginable destruction and deaths.

From the report above, these charts show the potential tsunami hitting the USA (Click each row to enlarge):

 and Here:

And finally, here:

 A number of people have begun claiming "this cannot happen."  Not to put too fine a point on it, they're wrong.

On May 18, 1980 Mount St. Helens in Washington state, had gone through WEEKS of normal eruption without any indication at all what was coming.  Then, without any warning at all . . . THIS happened:

This was the largest landslide ever recorded in human history.

For reference purposes, the amount of dirt and rocks that you see sliding in the video above . . . is seven-hundred-times SMALLER than what exists at LaPalma.

If LaPalma slides, the tsunami modeled above, very much CAN happen.

Folks along the eastern seaboard of north America should HAVE A PLAN.

There's no need to panic, if you HAVE A PLAN.

Where will you evacuate to?

What route will you use to get there?

If that route is blocked, what alternate route will you use?

Do you have a "Go-Bag" for each member of your family containing clothes, medicine and some small amount of food?

It might be a good idea to pack them up well in advance, just in case.

If a collapse happens on LaPalma, it will take about SEVEN HOURS for the resulting tsunami to arrive at the east coast.  BUT . . . .

and this is a big but . . .

Once the alert goes out to the general public, literally MILLIONS of people who have no idea at all what's going on, and who have no plan at all, will flee for their lives. 

It will be instant chaos.  Mayhem.

Roads will turn into impassable parking lots with the enormous surge of traffic.

People, fearing for their lives, will go "Mad Max" trying to escape.

So YOU need to have a plan to get out early.  YOU need to be ready to bolt to safety BEFORE the millions start to panic and flee.

Make that plan, today.

Keep abreast of developments on LaPalma.

This is life and death.

For what it's worth, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency actually has a forecast for such a disaster.  Their forecast asserts . . .  ready for this . . . . 65 MILLION Americans will be killed in such an event.

Whether YOU and YOUR FAMILY are among the dead, is really up to YOU.

Plan now, just in case, while you still can.